Wind-power wheel



- Jan. 30, 1923., I 1,443,912;

Z. DQMINGUEZ. WIND POWER WHEEL.

FILED NOV. 2?. 1920.

Viki/h Patented Jan. 30, 1923.

NITED ST TES.

'z'AcA-Rms 'nonrneunz, or Los enemas, mayhem,

wI'NmrowER WHEEL.

Application fiIed November 27,1920. Serial 'No.'2 6,866.

ToaZZ whom it may ooncemr:

Be it known that I, ZACARIASDOM'IN- com, a subject of the King of Spain.residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements inWVind-PowerWheels, of which the followin 'is a specification. v

lily invention relates to wind power wheels, the principal object of myinvention being to provide a relatively simple and efficient structurein the nature of a wheel or rotating frame upon which is mounted aplurality of vanes or wings, the latter being transversely curved anddisposed so as to utilize to the "greatest advantage the power of windpressure against them, and which power is transmitted'to a main drivingshaft, from whence it may be taken and utilized in any desired andwell-known manner.

Further objects of my invention are to" construct a wind power wheelhavinga vertical axis of rotation and to arrange the vanes or blades inupright or substantially vertical positions around said axis, said vanesor. blades being transversely curved on definite or predetermined arcs,which arrangement isinstrume'ntal in producing an apparatus that iscapable o f'producing relatively great power with minimum weightstruction and arrangement ofthe vanes or blades for a wind power wheelhaving six vanes or blades; 7

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view that graphically illustrates the formulaof construction. and arrangement of the vanes or blades for a wind. e'-ht vanes or blades.

\efei'ring by ruimerals. to the accompanydrawing which. ma mas a.practieal.

a diagrammatic view that graphically illustrates "the formula ofconpower wheel having embodiment of my "invention, 10 designates asuitable supporting frame work which.

may be in the naturegof a tower and arranged thereon at suitablepointsarebearin s 11 forf a vertically-disposed shaft.12.

' ixed in any suitable manner to the upper portion of this shaft, andpreferably above the top of'the' frame work 10, is'avv horizontallydisposed. skeleton frame work orspider 13' the same servingasa supportfor the vanes'or wings of theipower wheel; I These vanes or. wings' ltare preferably constructed of ru -ma thin sheet-metal; andieach havingthe fornrof an oblong rectangular :panel that is; arrangedin an upr1dimension vertically disposed.

ght position with its length or greatest 1 Each vane or wing iscurved"transversely on a definite or predetermined radiusthati'sobtained in a 'm'ann'er hereinafter more fully setforth, and secured tothe inner face of each vane; at a point substantially above itslongitudinal center; is an horizontally disposedu'rail or bar15; thesame being hinged in any suitable manner to the'frameo-r spider 13,.isoas to swingion a horizontal axis. The outer edges o'fthe. blades, vanesor wings 14 point tangential to the circle in which they travel and fromtheir outer edges the blades are arcs of'a circle ofr'le'ss diameterthan the-'radiusxo-f' the wheel. The

axis er the hinges connecting ablade to -the frame is at an angle ofabout relative e- 90 to the radial line. which it crosses at the inneredge of the blade.

Arranged for sliding movement upon the upper portion ofshafti12 is acollar 16, pivotally connected to the upper portion thereof are thelower ends of thrust'rods l'fi',

the upper end of eachrod being: pivotally connected to one of the barsor rails 15;

Arranged to slide freely upon the shaft" 12, below the collar 16; is avertically dis- 7 posed frame 1=8,"the top"of'which isadapted to engagethe under sidei'ofjcollar '16 when saidrframe -isimoved upwardly. Ansuit-- able mean sa'may be provided to" move tlie frame work "1 8upward, and in 2, I have illustrated "a simple arrangement that includes"a .windlass 19 and a cablev 20 that.-

is-adapted to wind upon the damof the Windlass and which'b'c'iableablydocatedzpulley"21.

After "frame 18 has been elevated the Windlass. may be locked or heldagainst; ro-

passes overa suit-- wr -laminate in'on'e direeti onby"a pawli'22 thatengages the teeth of the ratchet wheel 23, which latter is located onthe shaft of the Windlass.

The transverse curvature and the relative arrangement of the vanes orwings is determined as follows: I

A circle having the same diameter and circumference as the wheel thatisto be produced is drawn and if a wind wheel having six blades iscontemplated the circle such as -A' is divided into six equal parts bythe diametrically disposed lines a-a, 6-6 and cc. i

A straight line (Z-d is drawn, that is parallel with any one of thediametrically disposed lines aa, bb or cc. For instance, the line aa asillustrated in Fig. 3 and said line (Z-(Z being tangent to thecircles-A. A straight line e@ is now drawn at a point halfway betweenand parallel with lines aa and (Z(Z, after which. a line f; is drawnacross that portion of the circle be tween the lines aa and cZ-cZ andwhich line ;f intersects the point of intersection between the righthand end'of line 'aa and the circle A.-, and likewise intersecting thepoint of intersection between lines b and ee. i

The point g of intersection between the left hand portion of line f-fand the circle -A is the point on saidcircle that defines the positionsof the" outer edges of the vanes orwings and. .starting at this point gsaid circle is divided into six parts and the points between said partsbeing des:

ignated by the letters It, i, j, Zr: and Z, each of the last mentionedpoints representing the vertical linethat is to be occupied by one ofthe vanes or wings.

A relatively small circle "M-- is now drawn concentric withv circle A,which smaller circle intersects the point of inter section between lines6-?) and /"f. The point of a compass is now placed on this line +M andthe arc of a circle is drawn so that it will intersect the point .g--,

which .is the fixed point for the outer vertical; edge of-one ofthe-vanes, and the point of intersection between the smaller circle M-and the diametrically disposed line a-a; I

The arc n thus produced: and which determines the transverse curvatureor radius of the vanes of-the wind wheel, are reproduced at equaldistances apart, or between the remaining segments of the circles -A and-M, with the outer ends of said are intersecting or coinciding withthepoints h,

2', 7c and Z respectively and with the inner ends of said arcsintersecting the points of intersection between the smaller circle M--and the diametrically disposed lines Thus the arcuate lines such as -m,determine the transverse curvature or radius of shown inFig. 4: eachvane the vanes and likewise the relative-positions thereof upon theframe or' spider 13, and where the vanes are thus formed and positionedand the wind is moving in a horizontal direction toward thewind wheel,there will always be three of the vanes in service, that is, three ofsaid vanes will be subjected to the pressure of thewind.

Further, this particular construction and arrangement of the vanes iseffective in obtaining themaximum degree of power from the wind thatcontacts with the blades dur ing the operation of the power wheel.

In the event that it is desired to produce a wind power wheelhavingeight vanes or blades, practically the same system of layingout'the diagram is used as where a diagram for a six vane wheel isproduced. But in the diagram for the eight vane wheel, the dis tancefrom the line O, representing the circumference of the wheel, tonne ofthe a diagonally disposed'line 0-@ is drawn through the points ofintersection between the line Z2;) and thelarger circle and the point ofintersection between the smaller circle and one of the diagonallydisposed lines, thus gi'ving'the point .w on the larger circle, whichdetermines the location for the vertical outer edgesof the planes-andthe arcs of curvature or radius -s of the vanes terminatin at the innersmaller circle. (See Fig. 4;. I

With the diagrams thus produced, it will be a comparatively easy matterto properly shape and arrange the vanes of the wind wheel contemplated'by my invention, and should it be desired to construct a wheel with agreater number of vanes, practically the same formula as hereinbeforedescribed is utilized for obtaining the desired lines and positions forthe vanes.

In a wind wheel ofthe type disclosed in Figs. 1 and 3, each vane hasiaradius of approximately 42", while in the type of wheel has a radius ofapproximately 35. 7 v

When the vanes of the wheelare not subject to wind pressure theymaintain 'vertical positions, as illustrated in Fig. 2, by gravity andwhen subjected to'wind pressure and as the latter gradually increases"the vanes will, by contrifugal force, swing on their points of pivotalconnection with the frame 13 and gradually shift into angular positions,asillustrated by'dotted lines in Fig. 2, and which positions aredeterelevate frame 18 and the upper end of the latter will engage amoving thimble 16 upwardly on shaft 12, with the result that the vanes14 will be swung into substantially horizontal positions.

A wind power wheel of my improved construction is comparatively simple,is capable of being easily and cheaply produced and for those hereinshown and described without departing from the spirit of my invention,the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention;

1. In a wind power wheel, a vertically disposed shaft, a frame carriedthereby and a plurality of vertically disposed, transversely curvedvanes hinged to said frame so as to swing from vertical intosubstantially horzontal positions by centrifugal force.

2. In a wind power wheel, a vertically disposed shaft, a frame carriedthereby, a plurality of vertically disposed, transversely curved vaneshinged tosaid frame so as'to swing from vertical into substantiallyhorizontal positions by centrifugal force and means forv positivelyswinging said. vanes outwardly upon their axes of movement to render thewheel more or less inoperative.

3. Ina wind power wheel, a rotatably mounted frame, a series ofvertically dis-1 posed, transversely curved vanes hinged to said frameso as to swing upon horizontally disposed axes, the curvature of saidvanes being tangent to the periphery of the wheel;

4. In combination, a vertical shaft, a

spider upon the upper end of the vertical shaft, blades pivotallyconnected to the vspider atpoints above their centers,'said' bladesbeing curve-d in horizontal cross section and the outer edges of theblades point ing in lines tangential'to the circle in which they traveland the axes of the pivots being substantially at right angles to radiallines 7 which they cross at their inner ends.

5. In a. wind power wheel, curvedvanes sition and to be swung to ahorizontal p0;

'sition' .or anyposition intermediate of the,

ZACARIAS DOMINGUYEZ.

mounted to normally occupy a vertical p0

